Asian Inspired

We've had a few Asian inspired dishes since the start of the New Year.......actually, thinking back on it, this first dish may have been our New Year's Eve Meal. First up we had Spicy Mushroom Lettuce Wraps. This was inspired by the Spicy Tofu Wraps in the current issue of Vegetarian Times. , but I decided to skip the tofu and go for mushrooms instead. I just subbed one 8oz package of button mushrooms, chopped very fine for the tofu, omitted the water chestnuts, and subbed 1/2 tsp chile paste for the chile sauce and otherwise kept the recipe the same I love lettuce wraps when we go out, so I had high hopes for these. "Did they meet your expectations?", you ask. The answer to that is a resounding yes. These were fantastic, probably even better than most of the lettuce wraps I've had in restaurants. We enjoyed the wraps with a side of soba noodles, and some deep fried tofu with chile dipping sauce.

Next, we had this Sweet and Sour Noodles and Vegetable dish from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook. I got this book for Christmas, it's not all vegan, but there are several vegan dishes to choose from, or dishes that are easily veganizable. Despite some of the outdated, or misleading information (that it is necessary to combine pulses and grains for complete protein, or that you have to be extra careful with vegan children.....which I find hilarious since my vegan children eat a wider variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains than most of their omnivorous counterparts), this is a very good book as far as organization and ease of use. The recipes are rated using a star system depending on their level of difficulty, which I like for finding quick and easy meals on weeknights. Also, this book has beautiful pictures, which is always a plus in cookbooks.

The Sweet and Sour noodles were fantastic. Rob liked this dish very much, but thought it could use more noodles. The recipe called for egg noodles, which I subbed out for wide rice noodles, but unfortunately didn't have many of.